'Til Death Do Us Part (55 page)

“
I
f you say so
, chief,
”
Azile
surrendered
.
“
Where to then?
”

“
She owns the Cou
rtyard in downtown Philadelphia,
”
John stated.

“
You mean works there?
”
Azile asked for clarification.

“
No, John and the missus are loaded. If he says
‘
own
’
he means it.
”

“
Let
’
s start there
. D
o you have an address?
”
s
he asked him.

“
To where?
”
John asked her back.

“
The hotel.
”

“
You think she
’
s there?
”
John asked against hope.

“
You got a better place
to start…
I
’
m all ears,
”
Azile told him.

“
You
r ears are actually quite small,
”
he told her as he looked at the side of her head.

“
What?
”
s
he asked.

“
And she called me the stoner.
”

“
It
’
s an expression
.
John.
”
I
tried
to head off the next
five
minutes of explanations.

“
It
’
s a stupid one,
”
h
e mumbled.

“
Do you know your way around Philly?
”
I asked Azile.

“
Do you?
”
s
he shot back.

“
You
’
re the truck driver.
”
I said it as if that meant she should know the entire United States.

“
I
’
m sorry, I
’
m just a little
on edge. Eliza has me wound up,
”
s
he explained.

“
That
’
s fine, I
’
ve known her for a lot less time and she has me in knots. John gave me the address.
Twenty-one North Juniper Street.”

She gave me the loo
k that it was still a long shot.
I sympathized
,
I did
,
but we were still going to give it a go.

“
Check the
glove box, Horatio had an Atlas,
”
Azile said
,
pointing to the dash. Not sure if I could have missed it even if I looked through John
’
s eyes. Damn thing was the size of an overhead compartment on an
airplane—
and not one of those little shuttle crafts either.

Traffic got thicker the closer we got to downtown
,
but like nearly everywhere else
,
the virus had hit so suddenly and with such force
that
most folks were caught completely off-guard. A couple of times
,
the truck bounced as Azile had to push her way through a particularly nasty snarl and the resulting noise would invariably bring a zombie or two to check out the noise.

“
I wonder how many sleepers are in the city?
”
Azile asked
,
looking up at some of the huge skyscrapers

I shuddered thinking about them.
“
You
’
ve run into them
,
too?
”

“
Bathroom break.
”
She blushed.
“
Found a gas station, walked
in and I saw a big mass of them.
I figured they had been killed and stacked. Didn
’
t think too much about it…
I mean
,
the stink was horrendous
,
but I had to go so bad even that didn
’
t matter at the moment. Felt a little bad for the next passer-by when I realized the water didn
’
t flush when I was done. That was the least of my problems
,
though, I heard stuff going on in the nex
t room…
figured it was rats.
I’m not a fan of rats, but they don’t scare me, so I peeked my head in and I saw zombie after zombie peeling itself away from that congealed mass of whatever it was.”

“
They are creating some sort of secretion that keeps them safe
while they are in hibernation.
I would imagine it a
lso has some nutrients involved,
”
John said
,
glassy eyed.

“
I don
’
t know how he does it,
”
I said aloud to Azile
’
s question before she co
uld voice it. I pulled out the a
tlas and first found Pennsylvania and then checked out the Philadelphia insert.
“
It looks like we
’
re about
three or so miles away,
”
I said as I got my orientation within the city.
“
You
’
ve got a left coming up.
”

“
Mike
,
I don
’
t really like this,
”
Azile said as
she was swiveling her head back and forth.

And I couldn
’
t really put my finger on it
,
but I wasn
’
t a fan of the city either—
and not just because they were Phillies AND Eagles fans here and in its heyday the city had been anything BUT the city of brotherly love. Philadelphians couldn
’
t stand outsi
ders…
or themselves for tha
t matter. It was claustrophobic;
the streets were getting smaller and narrower the closer to the center we got. It was
a
shortcoming of all major cities on the eastern seaboard
,
they had been settled at a time when horses and carts dominated and those paths were made from the natural game trails of the deer and Indians before them. They were never built with the thought of a semi driving around.

“
It does feel like it
’
s closing in,
”
I said as I put the muzzle of the gun on the frame of the truck door.

She looked over and nodded, her eyes big, she looked a lot like the scared kid that she was.
“
We could get in a lot of trouble real quickly
,
and with the noise this rig makes, I think that will happen sooner rather than later.
”
A
lmost on cue
,
air released from the drums letting out a large squelching sound.

T
hen it
began
, zombies just started to
pour
into the street. One moment the intersection ahead of us had an overturned cab and a burned minivan
,
and the
n
ext
it was filling rapidly with running zombies that were coming out of the buildings on both sides.

“
Shoot them
, Mike,
”
Azile said with an edge to her voice. The truck was slowing down.

“
I can
’
t really shoot it straight ahead unless I take out the windshield.
”

“
Don
’
t do that!
”
s
he shouted as if
I were truly contemplating it—
although I kind of was.
“
Stick it out the window!
”

“
I won
’
t b
e able to hold it steady enough.
It’s
a machinegun
and
it
’
s got a ton of kick.
”

“
Would the M-16
have
been a better choice now?
”
s
he asked sarcastically.

“
Do all women get together in a big annual rally and figure out how they can bust our balls better?
”
I asked as I pulled the muzzle in and quickly rolled the windows up before our guests arrived.

“
Oh this is bad,
”
John said as he
looked like he
finally realized what was happening.
“
Is there a parade? This is really going to delay
us
getting to Stephanie
’
s hotel.
”

If we can get there at all
,
buddy
,
I thought.

“
A fucking parade, are you kidding me?
”
Azile said as the first zombie slammed into the truck
’
s grille.

“
See any floats?
”
John asked as he craned his head around.

“
Not one of those kinds of parades
, John,
”
I told him
as I was trying to figure out how to best use my heavy paperweight.

“
Must be a demonstration, they look kind of pissed. They mad about Viet Nam?
”
h
e asked me solemnly.

“
That
’
s probably it,
”
I told him.

“
Why do you coddle him like that?
”
Azile asked hotly.
“
He needs to know what
’
s going on
or he
’
s going to get us killed!
”

“
Hey
,
John, I
’
m going to talk ab
out you as if you
’
re not here,
you okay
with that
?
”
I asked as I put my hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes. He nodded in reply.
“
On some level he knows exactly what
’
s going on,
”
I sai
d, looking up from John to Azile while
I left my hand on John
’
s shoulder.
“
This is his way of dealing with
it.
Who
am I to tell him it
’
s wrong? Hell
,
I wish I were with him, his is an infinitely better world. And this man that
‘
will get us killed
’
like you said
,
has saved my life twice!
”
I accidently on purpose left out the part about me having to rescue him because he thought a couple of zombies
were line jumpers for Grateful D
ead concert tickets
,
but what she didn
’
t know wouldn
’
t hurt her.
“
This is also the same guy who figured out how to block out Eliza
’
s mind transmissions.
”

“
Fine,
”
i
ssued forth reluctantly from Azile
’
s mouth
,
but it was not difficult to see that she was not happy about it.

John was reaching over me heading for the door.

“
Where you going
,
buddy?
”
I asked him.